(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to compounds having pharmacological activity which are useful as pharmaceutical agents and, more particularly, as analgesic agents for the treatment of pain, and as Prostaglandin-E.sub.2 antagonists for the treatment of prostaglandin-E.sub.2 mediated diseases, to pharmaceutical compositions containing one or more of these compounds, and to methods of treatment employing these compounds. More particularly, the present invention concerns substituted dibenzoxazepine compounds, pharmaceutical compositions containing one or more of these compounds in combination with a pharmaceutically-acceptable carrier, and medical methods of treating pain and prostaglandin-E.sub.2 mediated diseases employing these compounds.
Analgesic compounds are agents which alleviate pain without causing a loss of consciousness and, thus, which are useful for treating pain and, often, for reducing inflammation.
The major classes of analgesic compounds include narcotic analgesics, or opiates, compounds which alleviate pain and induce sleep, and analgesic-antipyretic compounds, compounds which alleviate pain and reduce fever, such as salicylates.
Although the efficacy of opiates in relieving pain is well established, the associated addiction liability of opiates is a distinct disadvantage of these compounds.
While salicylate and salicylate-like agents (non-steroidal antiinflammatory agents or NSAIDS) are also efficacious in relieving pain, they often exhibit undesirable side effects, such as gastrointestinal irritation, as with aspirin, allergic response, as with aspirin, and/or liver toxicity with extended use, as with acetaminophen.
The compounds of the present invention are neither opiates nor salicylates, and represent another class of compounds which are useful as analgesic agents.
(2) Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 2,852,528 discloses 11-unsubstituted 10-(tertiary aminoalkyl)-dibenzo-[b:f]-thia-[1]-aza-[4]-cycloheptadiene-[2,6]-compounds .
U.S. Pat. No. 4,290,953 discloses dibenz[b,f][1,4]oxazepine derivatives which are stated to have serum cholesterol lowering activity, serum lipid lowering activity, blood lipid peroxide lowering activity and antiaggregation of platelet activity.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,534,019 discloses compounds which are hydrazides of tricyclic N-carboxylic acids.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,379,150 discloses dibenz[b,f][1,4]oxazepine derivatives which may have a heterocyclic ring present in the side chain at the 10-position of the molecule.
European Patent Application Publication No. 0 480 641 A1 discloses tricyclic heterocycles which are stated to have anti-hyperalgesic properties.
Each of the documents described hereinabove discloses compounds which are structurally different from the compounds of the present invention. Thus, the compounds of the present invention are structurally distinct from that which has been described in the art.